814,798. Feeding sheets. NATIONAL CASH REGISTER CO. Nov. 1, 1957 [Nov. 13, 1956], No. 34168/57. Class 100(1) Apparatus for conveying sheets such as cheques from a supply magazine to and aligning them at a sensing device includes a vacuum feeding drum and a series of flexible members mounted radially within the drum so as to project beyond the periphery and arranged to be traversed longitudinally of the drum during each rotation of the drum so that a number of the flexible members engage one edge of the sheet to move it sideways to position the other edge thereof against a locating member for positioning the sheet with respect to the sensing device. The number of flexible members engaging the sheet depends on the size of the sheet. After being sensed, the sheets are sorted into compartments under control of the sensing device. Separators; pile supports:- Sheets of various sizes are supported in a magazine comprising two side plates 40, 41 connected by studs and spacing sleeves, a front plate 48 mounted in slots in the side plates, and a base plate 49 also slidably supported in slots in the side plates and provided with an. upturned rear end 50 to define the rear of the magazine. The front end of the bottom sheet rests on and is removed by a suction drum 28 rotating continuously in a counterclockwise direction. More than one sheet cannot be removed together from the magazine by reason of a pair of belts 55 which are spaced from the drum 28 by an amount equal to the thickness of one sheet and driven in a direction opposite to the drum. These belts are mounted on pulleys, some of which are carried by the magazine itself, and others by adjustable levers 64, 65 mounted on the magazine. One pulley shaft is at the mouth of the magazine and is provided with several friction rollers thereon which are engaged by the bottom sheets in the magazine, and which are rotated in the same direction as the drum 28. The suction drum 28 comprises two end plates connected together at their peripheries by a series of spaced rollers 36 between which air is drawn, the inner end plate having spokes therein communicating with a source of suction. A transport belt 27, which drives the drum 28, passes around the drum and is perforated. Shields are arranged around the suction drum to preserve the vacuum therein. At the top a bent metal band forms one shield, and at the bottom an endless band 96, guided over studs 97, 98, 99, is in contact with the drum. The belt 27 passes over rollers 23, 22 and 25, the roller 22 being driven by a motor. The front plate 48 of the magazine may be vibrated to jog the stack of sheets by means such as a solenoid or a cam. Sheet-forwarders:- Each sheet separated from the magazine is carried by the perforated transport belt 27 and suction drum 28 to an aligning or registering drum 100 also connected to a source of suction, and is stripped from the drum 100 and diverted between a pair of delivery belts 150, 151 by an endless belt 145 which passes around the drum 100 and is fitted in a circumferential recess therein. The sheet is then taken away by the belt 150, which is perforated and is supported over a suction box 156. Whilst the sheets are on the registering drum 100 they are sensed by a device 101 which controls mechanism which sorts the sheets into appropriate delivery compartments Registering-devices:- The sheets are guided by the transport belt 27 on to the suction drum 100 and registered sidewise thereon before they pass the sensing device 101, by a series of spring fingers 129, Fig. 9. The drum 100 includes a solid front plate 102 carried by a stub shaft 116 mounted for axial adjustment in a frame plate 118, and a ring 103 rotatably mounted on a fixed bearing 104, the plate and ring being connected by a series of sleeves 106 spaced around the peripheries thereof. The ring 103 is also rotatably supported on a fixed bearing 104, the plate and three further rollers, such as 114, accurately locate the ring sidewise. The drum 100 is driven by a chain and sprocket 120, 119 at a speed greater than that of the separator drum 28 and belt 27, so that the sheets are spaced apart on the drum 100. The spring fingers 129, which project through the spaces between the tubes 106, are mounted on a ball bearing race 128 supported at an angle on the ball end 127 of a stud 1'26 rotatably mounted in a fixed bearing 125. As the drum rotates, the bottom spring fingers 129 bear against, and flex on, a band 130 mounted on the periphery of the drum. Each finger 129, in straightening during the rotation of the drum gradually moves to the left (Fig. 9), and sheets held by suction to the drum are thus gradually forced against the inner wall of the ring 103, and registered before passing the sensing device 101, Fig. 1. The inside of the drum 100 communicates through a recess 211 in the frame 105 with a source of suction. Driving arrangements:- The whole apparatus is driven from the motor-driven shaft 20. The transport belt 27 which passes around and drives the drum 28, also passes over a roller 22 on the shaft 20. A countershaft 73 (not shown), driven by a belt and pulley means by the main shaft 20, has a number of pulleys thereon from which directly, or indirectly the rest of the apparatus is driven by belts with the exception of the drum 100 and the friction rollers at the mouth of the magazine. The drum 100 is driven by a sprocket chain 120 from a shaft 76, and the friction rollers are driven by gear pinions from an associated pulley shaft for the belts 55.